Follow by Email

Thursday, 6 September 2012

Real Men Wear Pink

Oh back to school.....so much to do! We went through all the motions last week buying school supplies and a couple new outfits for the boys.....new gym shoes and backpacks.....which actually brings me to something here real quick like, backpacks. Now, I always let the kids pick out their own. And yeah, lots of times they aren't the most practical of back packs....why do they ones with the best Disney pictures have the LEAST amount of padding and pockets? Just one big open compartment for everything to get mangled together...books squishing their lunches and that one corner ALWAYS ripping open eventually spilling pens and garbage on their walks home. This year was no exception. Kohen wanted this "Hockey Canada" backpack....and it had a horribly small one large compartment. Gavin wasn't with us so I picked him out a very practical one, with tons of padding and lots of room for all the binders he's going to have to pack to high school. All my practicality went to waste when he showed up after a trip to the states with my sister with a name brand backpack, smaller then Kohens. And our dear boy Lenny, who's starting preschool this year gets a backpack too. I bring down a couple Cars ones....do you want the red car or the tow truck? He stands there debating in the way that only 2 year olds can....while holding his junk and ignoring you. He scans the wall of backpacks in walmart and screams "THIS ONE!!!!!" while excitedly running over and grabbing the one he wants for school! Instantly I have to put it on his back and he proudly goes running over to show Barry.

Yes, this is the backpack that he picked out. Why? Cause it's pink....his absolute favorite color. Barry and I stand there having a loud argument over letting him buy this one for school....mostly consisting of "you can't let him buy that!" "oh yes I can!" "no you can't!" over and over and over, both of us kind of laughing, but laughing in that way that's like "I dare you to make this a thing!". In the end I shove the back pack into the cart explaining that this is going to be the only time in his life where he doesn't have to be "gender specific" and I'm not going to stifle him! And for those of you early morning assholes who are now laughing cause I have three boys and this was my last chance at a girl....those assholes who remember that Lenny also has a large baby collection and a pink princess hair styling kit....I know who you are. And when I see you next, I'm going to punch all of you because that fact has nothing to do with stifling my last male child's wants and letting him blur the gender lines and if he wants a princess backpack then mama's gonna get him a princess backpack! Shut up. SO MOVING ON (I didn't want a girl you know.....I'm happy with my boys......just saying.....) we get up to the check outs and unload our hundreds of dollars worth of back to school shit. The lady is ringing it through and I'm making conversation with the people waiting behind us. It takes like half hour to check us out and as the last of the items are going, I scan and count one backpack....two backpacks...........and that's it. Where's Lennys? No pink back pack already went through? My eyes dart around the check out and there I spot a glimpse of a pink backpack sticking out from under a gum display at the beginning of the moving belt. BARRY!!!! I scold him and dig it out making a big display. The couple I'm chatting with get awkward as we argue over our son having a pink back pack and we all just smile nervously at one another. I'm glaring at Barry and he's laughing at me. We head out to the car and I look down on the ground and somehow that backpack has managed to flip OUT of the shopping cart and is laying in the parking lot......for fuck sakes BARRY MOORE! And finally all three backpacks are in the car and we can head home. My mom sees the back pack and freaks out too.....he can't carry that to school!!!! Which makes me even more determined that YES HE CAN! I ask my sister, who's a teacher, and she says it's fine....I even go so far as to ask his preschool teacher, who also says it's FINE and possibly we'll start a trend! Now just to pacify those who think it's a bad idea, yet keep the pink backpack for Lenny, I have altered it slightly and I think this works for everyone.....

3 comments:

There are lots of reasons why he should be allowed to pick which one he wants. In a world where he is not going to be able to always choose what he wants this is a time where he should be allowed to exercise his decision making skills. Things are tough sometimes. Life is tough and he may one day have a kid make fun of him but i'm pretty sure all of us had times in our life where we had to endure some kind of persecution but you can bet if it isn't over a pink backpack it will be about something else. As much as we want to, we can't completely protect our kids from the cruelty and bullshit in the world but in doing what you did, you have created a situation where you son can express what he truly likes and wants to you and feel safe about doing it. That is a huge thing, knowing that Mom will understand and not judge a decision that you make. Your doing it right. Keep up the good work and one day you will find that you will have a closer relationship to your kids than most other parents. -Lawrence Ballard

Thank you!! I think we all need at least one time in our life where we can be who we want and not be afraid or care what others may think...and if a pink back pack is all it takes to make this baby happy then so be it!